Blackguards - Early Access on Steam

October 30th, 2013, 06:00

Daedalic Entertainment announces they will be releasing Blackguards on Steam Early Access in November.

Sharpen your blades!

Hamburg, October 29th, 2013 – Acclaimed German publisher Daedalic Entertainment today announce they will be releasing the upcoming turn-based RPG Blackguards via the Steam Early Access program from November 2013.

Giving the community the chance to influence the game’s development prior to launch, Daedalic Entertainment will release each of the five chapters of Blackguards in three week intervals, starting with the first on November 7th 2013.

Three different packages of Blackguards will be available through Early Access, all of which include the final version of the game upon launch. Players will also be able to buy additional extras exclusive to the Early Access*:

Blackguards Standard Early Access Edition – £18.99: Includes each Early Access chapter of Blackguards for PC at the earliest availability as well as the final version of the game at launch for PC and Mac.

Blackguards Early Access Deluxe Edition - £26.99: Includes the Standard edition and a 150-page digital art book of the game, bonus developer interview videos and six exclusive wallpapers.

Blackguards Early Access Contributor Edition - £29.99: Includes the Deluxe edition and the first Blackguards DLC, a copy of point & click adventure Chains of Satinav as well as the buyers name featured in the game credits.

*The bonus items won’t be available until the final release of Blackguards.

I prefer crowdfunding to early access. I would really rather play the finished version for my first experience in a game world. I am looking forward to this though, so I may just buy early access and not play it if the funding/sales will help them finish the game.

By the way, seeing the title of this game on RPG Watch the last few months always makes me think of the series "The Black Company", which previously I had come across several times when searching for new books to read. I finally went ahead and picked it up. I'm sure the similarities with the game are minimal, other than having anti-heroes, but man is it a great series!

I liken "early access" to the same thing as cheating in a game. I'd just rather wait for the full release plus 2-4 patches these days, tbh. Fortunately, backlogged games + classics = stuff to do, plus EQ2 has a new expansion coming in two weeks, woootz!

If the game has a complex character generation, I will get an early access. I don't like it normally, but I think that's a great chance to experiment around with the character generator. And it won't spoil anything.

I'm not sure this is going to help them from a PR perspective, especially at that price. Most folks on the Steam forums, which are often read by people considering a purchase, seem to expect AAA polish at a $5 price, especially a low price for early access….and, man, do they bitch when they don't get it.

Originally Posted by Capt. Huggy Face
I'm not sure this is going to help them from a PR perspective, especially at that price. Most folks on the Steam forums, which are often read by people considering a purchase, seem to expect AAA polish at a $5 price, especially a low price for early access….and, man, do they bitch when they don't get it.

The pricing is impressive - might show that they aim to release a serious game. If that's the case it will be the first for a while in RPG space and no way am I going to spoil it by playing it before it's finished.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
If the game has a complex character generation, I will get an early access. I don't like it normally, but I think that's a great chance to experiment around with the character generator. And it won't spoil anything.

There are some character archetypes you can choose from at the beginning. But according to devs character development is fairly flexible and you can pick any skill you want, go any direction you want.

You can watch it yourself in this youtube video (Title of the video is wrong, it's E3 2013 by the way):

I'm going to buy this as an early edition. I'm always in to support makers of old school RPGs. Also I've nothing against early editions. I bought MMX this way and play the first part of the game. Now I'm sure that I'm going to receive a game that I want.

— "Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

Originally Posted by Gokyabgu
There are some character archetypes you can choose from at the beginning. But according to devs character development is fairly flexible and you can pick any skill you want, go any direction you want.

You can watch it yourself in this youtube video (Title of the video is wrong, it's E3 2013 by the way):

Ok, I found a German posting in Daedalic forums and I don't really like what I hear. I'll try a quick translation (a user asked if the cities can be explored like it was in the TDE Drakensang games):

The cities can't be explored in a sense that you may walk freely as it was in the Drakensang games. It's more like in an Adventure game, having a scenery with some hot spots. Focus is rather on the battle maps, which themselves serve as stage for the story.
Dialogs with Citizens will of course be possible, also buying items and finding quests. Just as you might expect of a city.

@JDR13 - yeah, that my my thought too. I like the idea of combat, but simply moving from coimbat scene to combat scene doesn't sound very compelling. I like exploration and snooping about. Might pick this up in the bargain bin some way down the line.

Originally Posted by rjshae
Early release == letting the customer pay to do the testing without the backlash from releasing a buggy game. From a business perspective it's a wonderfully crafty idea.

well, you do also get a 10% discount. I wonder if I should get it with the 10% discount, or wait for a few months when the game has gone through a few patches and probably like $10 in Steam Summer sale or something.